ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ νεομηνίας ἢ σαββάτων, ^{17}ἅ ἐστιν σκὶα
17 ὅ ἐστιν σκιὰ.
ἐν μέρει] ‘_in the matter of_,’ etc.; comp. 2 Cor. iii. 10, ix. 3 ἐν τῷ
μέρει τούτῳ. The expression seems originally to mean ‘in the division or
category’, and in classical writers most commonly occurs in connexion
with such words as τιθέναι, ποιεῖσθαι, ἀριθμεῖν, etc.: comp. Demosth.
_c. Aristocr._ § 148 ὅσα ... στρατίωτης ὢν ἐν σφενδονήτου καὶ ψιλοῦ
μέρει ... ἐστράτευται, i.e. ‘in the capacity of.’ Hence it gets to
signify more widely, as here, ‘with respect to’, ‘by reason of’: comp.
Philo _Quod det. pot. ins._ § 2 (I. p. 192) ἐν μέρει λόγου τοῦ
προκόπτοντος κατὰ τὸν πάτερα κοσμοῦνται, _in Flacc._ 20 (II. p. 542) ὅσα
ἐν μέρει χάριτος καὶ δωρεᾶς ἔλαβον. But Ælian _V. H._ viii. 3 κρίνοντες
ἕκαστον ἐν τῷ μέρει φόνου, quoted by the commentators, is a false
parallel: for φόνου is there governed by κρίνοντες and ἐν τῷ μέρει means
‘in his turn’.
ἑορτῆς κ.τ.λ.] The same three words occur together, as an exhaustive
enumeration of the sacred times among the Jews, in 1 Chron. xxiii. 31, 2
Chron. ii. 4, xxxi. 3, Ezek. xlv. 17, Hos. ii. 11, Justin _Dial._ 8, p.
226; comp. Is. i. 13, 14. See also Gal. iv. 10 ἡμέρας παρατηρεῖσθε καὶ
μῆνας καὶ καιροὺς καὶ ἐνιαυτούς, where the first three words correspond
to the three words used here, though the order is reversed. The ἑορτή
here, like the καιροί there, refers chiefly to the _annual_ festivals,
the passover, pentecost, etc. The νεομηνία here describes more precisely
the _monthly_ festival, which is there designated more vaguely as μῆνες.
The σάββατα here gives by name the _weekly_ holy-day, which is there
indicated more generally by ἡμέραι.
νεομηνίας] See Num. xxviii. 11 sq. The forms νεομηνία and νουμηνία seem
to be used indifferently in the common dialect, though the latter is
more common. In the Attic νουμηνία alone was held to be correct; see
Lobeck _Phryn._ p. 148. On the whole the preference should perhaps be
given to νεομηνίας here, as supported by some authorities which are
generally trustworthy in matters of orthography, and as being the less
usual form in itself.
σαββάτων] ‘_a sabbath-day_’, not, as the A.V., ‘_sabbath days_’; for the
coordinated words ἑορτῆς, νεομηνίας, are in the singular. The word
σάββατα is derived from the Aramaic (as distinguished from the Hebrew)
form שבתא, and accordingly preserves the Aramaic termination in α. Hence
it was naturally declined as a plural noun, σάββατα, σαββάτων. The
general use of σάββατα, when a single sabbath-day was meant, will appear
from such passages as Jos. _Ant._ i. 1. 1 ἄγομεν τὴν ἡμέραν,
προσαγορεύοντες αὐτὴν σάββατα, _ib._ iii. 10. 1 ἑβδόμην ἡμέραν ἥτις
σάββατα καλεῖται, Plut. _Mor._ 169 C Ἰουδαῖοι σαββάτων ὄντων ἐν
ἀγνάμπτοις καθεζόμενοι, _ib._ 671 F οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν σαββάτων ἑορτὴν
μὴ παντάπασιν ἀπροσδίονυσον εἶναι, Hor. _Sat._ i. 9. 69 ‘hodie tricesima
sabbata’. In the New Testament σάββατα is only once used distinctly of
more than a single day, and there the plurality of meaning is brought
out by the attached numeral; Acts xvii. 2 ἐπὶ σάββατα τρία.
On the observance of days and seasons see again Gal. iv. 10, Rom. xiv.
5, 6. A strong anti-Judaic view on the subject is expressed in the
_Epist. ad Diogn._ § 4. Origen _c. Cels._ viii. 21, 22, after referring
to Thucyd. i. 70 μήτε ἑορτὴν ἄλλο τι ἡγεῖσθαι ἢ τὸ τὰ δέοντα πρᾶξαι,
says ὁ τέλειος, ἀεὶ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ὢν καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ τοῖς
διανοήμασι τοῦ τῇ φύσει κυρίου λόγου Θεοῦ, ἀεί ἐστιν αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς
ἡμέραις καὶ ἀεὶ ἄγει κυριακὰς ἡμέρας, and he then goes on to explain
what is the παρασκευή, the πάσχα, the πεντεκοστή, of such a man. The
observance of sacred times was an integral part of the old dispensation.
Under the new they have ceased to have any value, except as a means to
an end. The great principle that ‘the sabbath was made for man and not
man for the sabbath’, though underlying the Mosaic ordinances, was first
distinctly pronounced by our Lord. The setting apart of special days for
the service of God is a confession of our imperfect state, an avowal
that we cannot or do not devote our whole time to Him. Sabbaths will
then ultimately be superseded, when our life becomes one eternal
sabbath. Meanwhile the Apostle’s rebuke warns us against attributing to
any holy days whatever a meaning and an importance which is alien to the
spirit of the New Covenant. Bengel on the text writes, ‘Sabbatum non
laudatur, non imperatur; dominica memoratur, non præcipitur. Qui
profundius in mundi negotiis hærent, his utilis et necessarius est dies
definitus: qui semper sabbatizant, majori libertate gaudent’. Yes: but
these last are just they who will most scrupulously restrict their
liberty, so as ἀπρόσκοποι γίνεσθαι.
17. Two ideas are prominent in this image. (1) The contrast between the
ordinances of the Law and the teaching of the Gospel, as the shadow and
the substance respectively; Philo _de Conf. ling._ 37 (I. p. 434)
νομίσαντας τὰ μὲν ῤητὰ τῶν χρησμῶν σκιάς τινας ὡσανεὶ _σωμάτων_
εἶναι, Joseph. _B.J._ ii. 2. 5 σκιὰν αἰτησόμενος βασιλείας ἧς ἥρπασεν
ἑαυτῷ τὸ σῶμα; comp. Philo _in Flacc._ 19 (II. p. 541) σκιὰ πραγμάτων
ἄρ’ ἦσαν, οὐ πράγματα. (2) The conception of the shadow as thrown before
the substance (ἡ δὲ σκιὰ προτρέχει τοῦ σώματος, says a Greek
commentator), so that the Law was a type and presage of the Gospel; Heb.
x. 1 σκιὰν ἔχων ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν (comp. viii. 5). Thus it
implies both the _unsubstantiality_ and the _supersession_ of the Mosaic
ritual.
ἅ] ‘_which things_’, whether distinctions of meats or observances of
times. If the other reading ὅ be taken, it will refer to the preceding
sentence generally, as if the antecedent were ‘the whole system of
ordinances’.
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